Semi-custom. It's a Klose "Open Face Steak Grill" aka "Fajita Grill" optioned out with a "swingset," a "big wheel," and large casters. It was also supposed to have a nipple so I could insert the throat of a smoker box and use it as a cold smoker, but Klose screwed up and forgot it. Took them awhile to figure out how they'd make that little slip-up right -- shipping a 400 lb grill 2000 miles for $5 worth of work is not an option. They decided to send me a diamond drill bit so I could drill the hole and mount the nipple myself, but forgot to do that. It's supposedly in today's mail.

Oh well, everyone screws up sometimes. One way or the other we'll make that little thing right.

More importantly, it's by far the best grill I ever used, it completely suits my style of cooking and gives me the freedom to do things exactly the way I want.

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how do you clean that?

You mean the expanded metal cooking grate? I'm all in favor of immaculate grates because they leave a really crisp tattoo. Even so, because the grill is always generously oiled before cooking, it's usually enough to hit it with a brush when the grate's hot -- before AND after cooking. If things get crusty, I'm not above using a chemical grill cleaner and a steamer. I start mild and go up to Easy Off as a last resort.

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does it have a lid?

Hood down:

Not the world's greatest picture for perspective and detail. Those things on top which look as though they either be vents with swing lids or weird stuff in the garden are vents. The weird shadow on the side is cast by the swing set's wheel.

Hood up, grate lowered all the way down:

That hole on the right side of the lid is one of the vents. The lids swing open when the hood is raised. There's another on the left which seems to have stayed closed.

Hood up, grate partially raised:

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what kind of wood do you use?

Oak logs or a combination of oak logs and mesquite, lump charcoal. Oak is very California. It takes a skosh less than an hour to get fireplace sized oak logs down to coals. Adding charcoal to the fire makes it burn hotter and get down to coals sooner. Two logs and a couple of large pieces of charcoal (I use commercial mesquite, so there are some BIG pieces) is a minimum fire. A fire that small (which isn't small at all compared to a fire you'd build on a 22" Weber) gives you just under an hour cooking time -- not very long.

Because there's so much room between the charcoal grate and the cooking grate even at its lowest height, it takes a decent fire to get cooking temps. Consequently, we're going through fuel at a fair clip. That's the cost of size, but size is what it takes to control a real wood fire. Almost no matter how large the fire, the swing set will let you get the grate high enough above it to do useful cooking.

From a culinary standpoint, wood is to hardwood lump as lump is to briquettes. Hardwood lump is too briquettes as briquettes are to gas. And gas ain't $#!+. Wood is where it's at, everything else is something else. Spoiled? Me? Surely not.

nice pics...thanks...does the 'big boy' have a rotteserie spit for roasting suckling pigs or lamb shoulders? what's the big black box to the left? how long does it take to get the mequite hot enough to cook?..guess my real question is, for those 4 pork loin chops was it worth all the time, effort and fuel for what, maybe 10 minutes of grill time? or maybe since it'a a new toy, it's of little importance, as you are playin and checkin it out!....aah, i can smell the mesquite from here..i love that aroma....okay, party's on!!

joey

food is like love...it should be entered into with abandon or not at all Harriet Van Horne

does the 'big boy' have a rotteserie spit for roasting suckling pigs or lamb shoulders?

No. If I do get a rotisserie it will probably be an open pit with kabab rails made by an Armenian fabricator. But the Klose does kabab just fine very much, and we don't rotisserie very often -- especially big cuts. So it probably won't ever happen.

what's the big black box to the left?

Meet my smoker:

It's a Backwoods Fatboy.

how long does it take to get the mesquite hot enough to cook?.

About 20 minutes to get a small, mesquite charcoal fire going. About 45 minutes to get a few fireplace size oak logs down to coals. Also about 45 minutes to get a huge, mixed fuel fire going. Mesquite (charcoal) is good, oak (log) is best. I like to do mixed fuel if I'm planning on adding fuel during the cook to keep it going for a long time.

guess my real question is, for those 4 pork loin chops was it worth all the time, effort and fuel for what, maybe 10 minutes of grill time? or maybe since it'a a new toy, it's of little importance, as you are playin and checkin it out!.

The fire the pork chops were on was started from two oak logs and two really big pieces of mesquite charcoal -- chosen partly because they were too big to use in the smoker. It took 45 minutes or so to get it ripe enough to cook, but not much work. Real wood takes longer than briquettes to settle down to coals -- but you can do other things for almost all of that time. No matter what you're burning, the routine is light, wait, cook. Who cares about the wait? It's not like I'm running home from work and trying to get dinner on the table for the kids. Instead, I had an arak (it's like ouzo only fresher tasting) and water.

couple of questions that may have fallen through the 'grates'...can i use yogurt or buttermilk marinade for pork (loin, country ribs), or is a brine better? why is a brine better over a marinade. in an earlier post i said that i thought a brine was a method of preserving food i.e. corned beef, pastrami, pickled herring etc., and a marinade was to add tenderness, moisture and flavor. my right brain thinking tells me that pork would do better with a marinade instead of a brine...yes? no? why?...maybe someone should/could define brine and marinade...thanks...

BDL....just an observation here...

you know the shrines to the "virgin of guadalupe' that are practically on every street corner and highway in any town with a large mexican population? well, i'm getting the impression that your backyard, garden, patio - retreat is a shrine of sorts, rooted in oral pleasures of the eating kind...coffee roaster, fatboy smoker, big boy grill....anything else?

joey

Edited by durangojo - 7/18/11 at 10:55am

food is like love...it should be entered into with abandon or not at all Harriet Van Horne

Sure you can marinate pork in buttermilk or yogurt. Why not? Preference for yogurt with pork, because buttermilk will have a tendency to wash it out too much. You want to limit your marinating time with either, because too much will make the meat mushy. Yogurt works well with "tandoori" and "tikka" style spicing. Pork is big in Goa.

Shrine to orality isn't far from the truth. It's very resort-like in the back yard. If we do more landscaping, and/or add cooking toys we should probably think about opening a gift shop back there. What do you think?